Original Collections List

2026-02-20

We leave what follows as originally written but note that due to licensing restrictions Korean Postcards are not a candidate for inclusion in UChicagoNode.

2024-08-29

What follows is a list of digital collections that have appeared on several previous compilations with the purpose of identifying collections for inclusion in Node. It has tried to be as exhaustive as possible, but excludes web pages on the Library's website, for example, a list of links to PDF files, such as Chicago Shimpo, or stand-alone sites that are not digital collections, e.g., Philip M. Klutznick.

New collections might be added to this list, for example, as they come up for consideration by the Digital Collections Working Group. Existing collections will continue being ported to Node. Therefore, this document is dated at the top to indicate when it was last revised. Abbreviations for these collections, where such exist, are parenthesized. These will sometimes appear in internal communications and may be in need of decipherment.

Digital Collections are arranged by interface. If collections share an interface, then a review of ADA compliance needs to be conducted for that interface, not per collection. Custom interfaces need perforce to be reviewed per collection.

Custom interfaces

Guerrilla Television (GTV) (metadata being ported to Node)
Mapping Chicagoland (metadata being ported to Node)
Online Language Archive (OLA) (metadata being ported to Node)
Mesoamerican Languages Collection (MLC) (metadata being ported to Node)
Yerkes Logbooks and Plates (metadata being ported to Node)

The Chicagoan
University of Chicago Photographic Archive (UCPA)

Luna

Middle East Photograph Archive (MEPA) (metadata being ported to Node)
Social Scientists Map Chicago (CHISOC) (metadata being ported to Node)[*]

Maps
Korean Postcards
Korean Stamps
Speculum Romanae Magnificientiae (Speculum)**

[*] CHISOC also has a bespoke interface. A discussion has not been had about what value, if any, it adds beyond what is available in Luna. (All collections in Node should have a page that describes them, so a link to the BTAA Geoportal could be included there.)

[**] Speculum also contains itineraries. A discussion has not been had about where best to preserve these. They are not part of the digital collection per se. They are bespoke paths through the digital collection.

IIIF-based page turner [***]

Gregorian Chant Manuscripts (metadata being ported to Node)
Islamic Lithographs (metadata being ported to Node)

[***] This has yet to be built. Madeline Alft has pointed to concerns and best practices in the IIIF community with respect to Document Viewer UX and Accessibility.

As yet undecided (discussions have either not yet begun or else have not yet been concluded)

Yerkes Photographic Plates and Logbooks (metadata being ported to Node)

Hanna Papanek Photograph Collection (under construction)
Bengali Music Project (planned)
Igbo Ethnography Project Audio Recording (planned)

Digital Special Collections finding aids for born-digital materials
Special Collections finding aids for retrospectively digitized materials

Chopin Early Editions (Chopin)
Goodspeed Manuscript Collection (Goodspeed)

Campus Publications (Campub)
Rose and Chess
Middle East Serials Project (MEDOC): Ottoman Turkish Serials; Persian Serials; Arabic Serials
SCRC Media One-Offs

The following have shown up in previous lists; their status requires analysis.

Cervantes
United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs

The following are not under Library control, but the Library has been associated with them in some way.

South Side Home Movie Project (SSHMP) (metadata being ported to UChicagoNode)

Digital South Asia Library (DSAL)
Dispersed Chinese Art Digitization Project (DCAD)

The following does not point to digital content, but one day it might.

Black Metropolis Research Consortium